


hold onto me (as we roll down this unfamiliar road)

by chens



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 18:25:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1357459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chens/pseuds/chens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sehun learns what it feels like to miss home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	hold onto me (as we roll down this unfamiliar road)

**Author's Note:**

> alternate summary: taohun in qingdao. this fic can also be found on my lj so don't panic

The first thing Oh Sehun hears when he steps out of the terminal are the screams.

“SEHUN-AH!” his fans call out, waving their phones flashing his name along with a gazillion hearts on the screens. Some of them even have banners ready; welcoming him to Qingdao and Sehun gives them a little wave, wondering how on earth they managed to make such elaborate posters in so little time. The sheer willpower of fans never ceases to surprise him.

He scans the crowd for a familiar face and is surprised when he doesn’t see anyone he knows. Smiling at his fans nervously, he makes his way around, squinting at the sea of people. Qingdao airport was a busy place that had hundreds of people walk in and out of the building every hour but currently not one of the people passing him is the person Sehun wants to see the most. Where is Tao? A small bubble of panic rises as Sehun looks around for his band mate. Did he forget? Did Sehun tell him the wrong time? He grows increasingly worried as he looks around. He was all alone in a foreign city, how on earth was he supposed to find his way around????

“Yah, Oh Sehun!” a voice shouts and Sehun turns around so fast he almost gives himself whiplash. He knows that voice. He could recognize it anywhere.

Huang Zitao.  
He's dressed the same as always, not bothering to really blend in. A pair of dark sunglasses covering half his face is the only thing that offers a little concealment. Sehun all but rushes towards him, only to skid embarrassingly to a halt at the sight of Zitao’s father, bending into a quick 90 degree bow Junmyeon would definitely have been proud of. 

"H-hello," he stutters nervously in Chinese. "I'm Oh Sehun, it's nice to meet you." 

"Ah Sehun! I've heard a lot about you," Zitao’s father tells him, exchanging a look with his son. 

Sehun chuckles awkwardly. "Only good things, I hope."

Tao whispers the translation to the other man, who for his part just laughs and claps Sehun on the back. The pair exchanges more rapid sentences back and forth that completely fly over Sehun's head. He really ought to pay more attention in his Chinese lessons. 

Tao picks up Sehun’s bags and waves to the fans as his father drapes a jacket over Sehun. "Cold," the man explains simply as Sehun mumbles stuttered thanks. He clutches at the edges of the jacket, bringing it closer to his frame. It's his own jacket from Seoul, the one he had thrown into Tao's suitcase while he watched the elder pack for his trip from his bed. 

He waves goodbye to his fans as he walks off, wishing them a happy new year. He makes it a good several feet before he realizes that he has gone off in the wrong direction, before blushing and doubling back to Zitao and his father.

Qingdao is very different from Korea. Chinese makes its way into his ears as he blindly follows the pair in front of him. Outside the airport there is so much to see that for a moment he loses sight of Zitao, only for the boy to march back towards him, grab him tightly by the hand and drag him off in the direction of their parked car. "You can't get lost here, Sehunnie," he scolds lightly, and at the sight of Sehun’s lost expression, his expression softens. 

"Don't worry, I'm here. You aren’t getting lost on my watch."

 

 

 

 

"Mom, I'm home!" Zitao yells as soon as Sehun walks through the front door of the Huang family home. 

Zitao’s mother walks out of the kitchen a few seconds later, smiling at the sight of Sehun. "Hello ShiXun." 

"Hello MaMa," Sehun bows politely, tugging nervously at his sleeve as he takes in his surroundings. "You guys have a very nice home." 

Behind him, Zitao bursts into laughter. 

Sehun whirls around, scowling at the other. "What?!"

Zitao continues to laugh and upon closer inspection it seems like Mr. Huang was trying to keep a straight face. "You said our chicken was very pretty. _Our Chicken_." He laughs again and Sehun feels his ears turning red with embarrassment. 

"Sorry!" he tells Tao’s mom and Zitao lets loose another peal of giggles. “Shut up!” he hisses at his friend, giving the other a whack on the arm which the boy easily dodges. Damn his wushu training.

Zitao decides to spare him from the torture and grabs his wrist, pulling him towards a hallway. "Come on, I'll show you my room," he says in Korean.

"Do you want me to bring you guys any food?” Zitao’s mom asks. “Cookies? Milk?"

"Mooooom, I'm an adult now," Tao whines. “This isn't even a play date. I'm not going to go show Sehun my Lego collection or anything!” Behind him, Sehun giggles into his hand.

 

 

 

True to his word, Tao doesn't show Sehun his Lego collection. Instead, he plops down next to Sehun on the mattress Zitao’s parents had put on the floor next to his bed with a photobook in his hand. They lie down side by side, flipping through photos with a plate of Oreos between them as Zitao shows Sehun pictures from his childhood and all of his friends. "I'll introduce you to all of them one day," Zitao promises with bright eyes, and Sehun nods as he listens to the other launch into another story about his life before SM. 

Zitao talks about his friends like he's deprived of them, like they are water that Zitao longs to sip. It’s obvious that he misses them and Sehun realizes he had never really thought about Zitao still having friends that weren't the eleven of them or, by extension idols. 

Sehun realizes he never really thought about Tao living in a life that didn't include him and the other members. 

 

 

 

Zitao takes Sehun to the beach. 

They walk side by side along the shore, shoulders brushing as they watch the waves roll up and try to lick their feet. 

There aren't a lot of people at the beach, just a few couples out for a romantic stroll and several fans who keep their distance and ogle them from afar. They don't bother approaching him and Tao, and for that Sehun is grateful. 

If he keeps looking straight, it's like he's on the beach with no one else but Zitao. 

"I used to come here a lot," Tao muses. "Whenever I needed time to think, I'd come here. it helps me clear my mind." 

"With your friends?" Sehun couldn't help but ask. 

"No, you're the first one I've ever taken here."

There's a smug glow warming in Sehun’s body, pleased that Tao had confided in him. 

"Of course when I became a trainee, I couldn't come here anymore." Tao says, "but it looks the same." He picks up a stone, fingers rubbing against its smooth surface before throwing it into the water. It makes a heavy plunk, water leaping into the air and Tao watches its movement with a small smile. "It's like it waited for me to return." 

But everything isn't the same anymore, Sehun knew. They weren’t Huang Zitao and Oh Sehun, normal people, anymore. They were Tao and Sehun of EXO. 

Even through the darkest times, they are expected to smile and pretend to be happy. Idols couldn’t show weakness.

Sehun wonders how hard it was for Tao and for the rest of the Chinese members to adapt to living in Korea.   
He wonders how the China line felt about being away from home during the holidays, how they could stand being miles away from their families all the time. 

It must have sucked, Sehun concludes, to go to Korea without knowing the language or anyone with your hopes and dream of being and idol being your only crutch. How lost Luhan must have seemed, how uncomfortable Yixing and Kris must have felt when the language spoken around them was not the one they spent their life listening to. How lonely Tao must have been. 

But also, how brave the four of them have been up to this day. Sehun wouldn’t have lasted very long by himself in a foreign country, and he feels lucky that at least, if times are ever hard, his family will always be just a subway ride away. 

"You’re right," Sehun says, and Tao looks up from the mini sand dune he was trying to make with his feet.

"About what?"

"This place really does help clear my mind."

 

 

 

They pass a bubble tea shop on their way back to Zitao’s and Sehun pulls the other towards it eagerly.

He steps up towards the counter, staring at the menu with great apprehension. 

“Hi, I’d like a... a...” He scrunches up his face in concentration, trying to remember those words he had Luhan teach him several tapioca filled drinks and a hundred fluorescent straws ago. “A taro milk tea and a cho-chocolate milk tea, please. Both with pearls,” he adds as an afterthought before turning towards Tao for his approval.

The other boy shoots him a thumbs up and Sehun’s eyes fold into happy little crescents, pleased with his small achievement. Tao then motions forward to pay for the drinks but Sehun waves him off. If this was in Korea, he would whine insistently for the elder to buy the drink for him but Sehun’s heart still twinges painfully at the thought of Tao alone in Seoul all these years away from home. 

He wants Tao to know he appreciates him, but doesn’t really know how to put his feelings into words. He settles with picking out a couple Yuan out from his wallet, hoping this little gesture would at least show the other he cared. _I’m here for you now, hyung_.

He laces their free hands together and smiles as they walk down the road and for a second, Sehun revels in the moment of just being Oh Sehun and Huang Zitao.

 

 

 

Night falls faster than Sehun expects it to.

‘Lights Out’ was technically an hour ago, when their loud chatter resulted in Zitao’s mom telling them it was ‘time to go to bed , _please_ ’ like they were children having their first sleepover. This, Sehun supposes, was half true.

Even after Zitao’s mom turns the lights off, they continue to giggle and talk, curled up in their respective beds, until exhaustion tugs at their eyelids.

Sehun lies in his bed for a long time after that, listening to Zitao’s slow breaths as he tries to fall asleep.  
Outside, the odd firecracker and shout graces the night as China tries to celebrate the New Year right up to sunrise. 

Then, quietly as to not wake up his band mate, Sehun gets out of his bed and wiggles his way into Zitao’s blankets. He snuggles up closer when Tao begins to stir and whines when the elder tries to shake him off.

“Don’t, hyung,” Sehun mumbles into the cotton of the other’s shirt. He buries his face into the crook of Tao’s neck and inhales. Tao is warm and soft and the closest thing Sehun’s got that reminds him of Korea and EXO. Curling against his side, he is immediately comforted by the sense of familiarity the other’s body brings.

“You smell like home,” Sehun mumbles quietly, eyes fluttering with exhaustion. 

It’s been a long day and he had emerged from Zitao’s beach with a newfound appreciation and respect for the other members (not that he’d ever tell them that). He misses Korea, but with Tao breathing steadily by his side, he thinks it will be okay. He has a piece of home with him and he is happy he’s not alone on New Year’s Day.

_You smell like home._

The last thing he thinks he feels before he’s completely out is the soft press of Tao’s lips against his forehead.

Oh Sehun smiles in his sleep.


End file.
